Party Poker Steps SINGLE Table style

[BrianSwa]

I think thats a very good way of looking at it, personally id rather just buy into a MTT becuase of the fact that everyones made that only the top 4 get paid and its like playing 5 sit and go's. Id like to hear chipfish opinion since he is the one that made it through all 4 steps.....chip?

[ChipFish]

Everyone is missing the obvious here....
With the Step tourneys the hardest part is level 1.
What you ask? How can that be?
Simple.
You have to finish top 4.
It's not that hard.
Honestly, if you can't finish top 4 in a 2 table tourney at least once out of 2 or 3 tries... Well, then you can cry about -EV and how evil PartyPoker is because there are like a million people in this tournament.
Fact of the matter is there are 19 other people in this tournament.
That's it.
You have to finish 4rth. That means you have to beat only 15 people.
Of those 15 I'd say 12 of them are "dead money".

It cost me $11 to make Step 5.
Let's assume that I was able to make it all the way to Step 5 only 10 times out of 100.
That's a fair assumption for a stronger player is it not?
Of course it is.

Now let's look for this "-EV" that everyone is whining about.
Nope. Can't find any.... In fact it seems to work out to "+EV".

Using the above example... I make Step 5 10% of the time.
So out of 100 Attempts (100 x $11 = $1100) I would have to make Step 5 2 times to have positive EV.
That's right. I am entered into a $1,000 tournament for a discount.
That equals p-o-s-i-t-i-v-e e-v.

So, no matter how you try to skew the results, by claiming that Party is charging $3000 rake or whatever number the naysayers came up with, they in fact did not charge me a thing. They actually gave me a discount.
And no, I did not have to face 1000 opponents.
I in fact only faced 20 at a time. Less when you realize that these are "SATELITES" meaning, you do NOT have to win to move on.
What is the best strategy for satelites? Figure out roughly how many chips you will need to be in the final 4 (or whatever number wins the satelite) and once you achieve that number... yes wait for it.... Fold everything.

In summary, if someone is going to say "Hey ChipFish!, Do you want to enter a $1,000 tournament for less than $1,000?" ChipFish will respond with a yes.
This -EV nonsense is mathematical drivel and does assume logic.

Good luck to those of you who play.

Edit to add: If you are eliminated in Step 4, you are officially "dead money" and there is nothing you can do to change this.
An obscene amount of people win either move on, or get another chance at a lower level.... I can't remember off hand, but if you are being eliminated from a sit-n-go 2 table tourney in the first 3 levels, Well then, you're in over your head.

I honestly think they are pretty easy.
Set aside a few buy-ins. Say, 10 entries. If you have no success in the first 4 tries, then skip it. You probably won't win.

Oh yeah, and not to forget that if you bubble out of these things you still win a couple of bucks.

I bubbled out of one attempt and landed the money spot... (Can't remember but does $30 sound right?) Either way Let's look back.... I spent $11 and won $30. Profit of $18. It doesn't matter if it was at a level 2 or a level 4.
Same profit equals same profit.

[Penguinfan]

Actually ChipFish I was referring to the SINGLE table version they now offer and how much better these are than the 2-table game, just my opinion.

[ChipFish]

Single table is worse in my opinion.
Not as many chips in play. Have to finish higher... 2nd vs 4rth.
Although this is the same when you divide by number of players, it is not.
Since there are less chips in play, there is less room for error.

Look at it this way.
Single table 5 left 2 make the money.
Multi-table 5 left 4 make the money.

[PShabi]

I've played in a few of the MTT steps: beat step 1 1st try, got a "requalifying spot" for step 2 first try there, then I busted out of step 2 in my second attempt.

I played 2 mroe step 1s but no luck.

I've also played in one STT step tourney. I really didn't like it at all. I think I had the misfortune of having probably 6-7 solid players at the table with me. I doubled up on the first hand, yes first hand. By the time we got to 4/5 handed, the blinds were pretty high and everyone had equal stacks.

From that point on, it was a crapshoot. I mean when there 8k in chips at the table, roughly evenly divided between 4 or 5 of you, what can you do at $400 big blinds.

I'm not liking my chances with the structure if things become a crap shoot at 3 out of 5 levels or worse.

I'm going to be an occasional player of the 2 table versiions.

[ChipFish]

another reason to play the multi-steps vs the single-steps is the timed levels vs. the 10 hands per level.... you definitely want timed levels....

Pshabi, how do you do in Single-table- Sit-n-gos?
I would imagine you could do all right, or are you strictly a limit-ring game player? Nothing wrong with that, just curious.

[PShabi]

Last month I played 20 sit and goes. All of them were $20+2 buy-in single tables at Party. It was sort of a trial for me because I am mostly a limit player, but I love No Limit Tourney style.

My breakdown:

1st - 3
2nd - 3
3rd - 1


Out of money finishes

4th - 3
5th - 3
other-7

So, I profited only $80. I had fun, but I don't particularly like the results. Being honest with myself, out of the 13 non-money finishes, I probably got busted going in with the best 2-3 times minimum.

So, if I have a little better luck, and get one more money finish out of those "bad beats," and I could improve my heads up win percentage and get one more 1st, I may be able to be a decent "winner" here. That coupled with the fact that I'm improving my game as well.

Just read TJ and McEvoy (the championship series book) for the first time. I usually absorb better the 2nd time through so here goes the second read.